Sunday, 26 May 2013

Dead Genesis (Reese Eveneshen, 2011) DVD Review...

Indie filmmaker and zombie fan Reese Eveneshen (Writer/Director/Cinematographer)
previously made waves on the low budget indie zombie flick scene with his 2007
remake of Night of the Living Dead, and with the follow-up film – Dead
Genesis – Eveneshen seeks to tread familiar ground with a serious approach and
bloody-minded ambition.

“It's not a war, it's us kickin' ass!”
Beginning on Day 1 of the zombie apocalypse, we are quickly whisked through to
Day 231, with the crumbling of society, and a push-back by the living,
scanned-over with highlights. Families are literally torn apart (in an
eye-widening first five minutes that separates the men from the boys),
lawlessness takes over, and the 'War on Dead' begins with local militias becoming
heroes of a resurrected New Media Corporation. Stories of hope and survival are
transmitted to survivors as mankind sets about taking back what's theirs – but
at what cost to their humanity?

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In terms of tone, Dead Genesis is gritty and dark,
save for one out-of-place sequence early on regarding the 'Pro-Zomb'
movement which inevitably becomes overtly farcical – for a brief few moments, a
film that began with blood-soaked infanticide, takes a single detour into dark comedy. It
makes for an interesting, but awkwardly-placed, dividing line within
Eveneshen's post-apocalyptic society.

Heading up the ensemble cast (surprisingly large for a
low budget indie flick) is Emily Alatalo as Jillian Hurst, a documentarian
who sets out to make a pro-war film covering the exploits of infamous
zombie-slayers 'The DeadHeads'. The group is headed-up by Korvin (Colin
Paradine), a stony-faced pragmatist, who leads his not-so-merry band of skull-crackers
cross-country on zombie slaughtering missions. Among the group is show-off
Mickey (Alex Mallari Jr), Southern belle Sofia (Paige Albrecht),
moody crack-shot Cricket (Erin Stuart), sincere widower Danny (Ryan
Barrett), philosophical Fynn (Lionel Boodlal), creepy preacher
Connor (Tom Parkinson), and laid back dude Felix (Jonathan Steen)
– and herein lies one of the film's main flaws.

“Congratulations Sweet Pea, you just made the bucket
list.” With such an extensive cast, only a handful of them are afforded
the time for deep characterisation, and as a result of having to take the time
for Hurst to interview them all, the second act pacing seriously dips. The gas
pedal is released and the film temporarily gets lost in the woods (where
the majority of the film takes place); it's only when the team take a
detour to 'Necropolis' – and a decidedly dodgy bar, run by a jovial/sleazy
entrepreneur – that Dead Genesis once again finds its sense of direction, and its
penchant for disquieting the viewer. Ultimately the film is about the journey
of Jillian from naïve cub reporter to hollow-eyed survivor – a central plot
that displays a mature and world-weary examination of post-9/11 society, but
one which would have benefited from some judicious editing and re-focusing, at
the script stage, for the unwieldy middle-portion.

As a low budget indie, the scale is impressive and the
serious tone demands respect (Eveneshen seemingly also fed up with the sheer
onslaught of decidedly iffy 'zomedies'), and like most low budget indies,
you can see the filmmakers improving, and climbing the learning curve, as the
film progresses – the same can be said of the cast, who gradually find their
characters (and their on-screen confidence) over the course of the
running time. There are some presentational issues along the way – seemingly
dubbed dialogue that leaves something to be desired at times, overly-shaky
camera work, and some digital break-up to the visuals during the woodland
scenes. On the other hand, the special make-up effects (by Mitchell Stacey)
are gleefully gruesome – particular highlights being an impressively powerful
head-shot, and some flesh-ripping scenes that rival similar moments from much larger
horror film productions.

“God will judge you. God will judge all of you!”
I've seen some real dreck – with bigger budgets – in the world of indie zombie
films, so it's pleasing to report that Dead Genesis is one of the good
ones. It's certainly not without it's fair share of issues, but this effort is
very respectable – and illustrates a strong step-up by Eveneshen & Co from
their 2007 re-do of George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead. This
film is the work of dedicated and talented individuals who are starting out in
what will hopefully become illustrious careers – they're certainly worth
keeping an eye on.

About Me

I am a British freelance filmmaker, as well as a writer, movie fanatic, and zombie obsessive. I am the author of "Dug Deep" and the "Celebrityville" series of books, and write for Sleaze Fiend Magazine and Homepage of the Dead.
Of the many filmmakers who influence me, some are: Romero, Raimi, Carpenter, Cameron, Fincher, Tarantino, Rodriguez, Kubrick, Boyle, Zombie, Martino, Fulci, Argento, Cronenberg, Marshall, Smith, Nolan, Dominik, Scott, Mann, Hooper, De Palma, Leone, Spielberg and Zemeckis.